The Even Bigger Dig!

[derien]

Portland, Maine, tired of being overshadowed by Boston at every turn, has unveiled their newest public works project - the Forty-two Minute Train.  Running from the Portland Transportation Center to every major city in the world, the new Forty-two Minute Train will be a revolution in technology and design, and put Portland on the map once again as a major hub of commerce.  Amtrak is already planning to add many more trips to the Downeaster schedule, which currently runs only five trips each day from Portland to Boston. 

The new Even Grander Central Station will of course be a huge challenge to provide security for, but the capable derien will be named Federal Security Director, and will have an even greater empire than (...sorry, had to cut that part due to security issues -Ed).  She has already begun amassing her evil minions handpicking her managers.  Already lined up for positions: CeeJay and Mistress of the Night will be Screening Managers, Rev. Ricco will be Human Resources Specialist, ElvenGirl as Training Coordinator, and Mainertoo and BuddyBoy will be in charge of screener moral.  A special Intelligence Board will also be convened, weekly, to review all decisions and decide if they were intelligent or not.  Although the darker side of Rumor has it that a special Oubliette of Darkness is being prepared for any dissenters to derien's absolute rule over all security measures, this is completely unconfirmed and we must not pass on rumors as all rumors are bad bad bad, so forget we ever printed this. 

It has of course been pointed out that drilling a hole through the center of the Earth is a very risky undertaking, and could, if handled wrongly, cause a major magma flow to engulf most of that side of the city.  However, if that should happen the city council looks forward to having an unparalleled tourist attraction in the new Portland Volcano.  Alternatively, should the Hollow Earth theory prove true, University of Southern Maine may become a world-renowned center for Archeology and Anthropology, or for the study of new technologies, depending which theorizer of Hollow Earth theory proves to be most correct.

Also...



Happy Birthday to Rev. Dodgson. :)

Yes, of course this is my Rabbit Hole Day post.  Dodgson's idea of the Forty-two Minute Train came from the same speculation which produced the rabbit hole Alice fell down, according to The Annotated Alice Site.  (SO COOL to have found this site!  This was my first absolute favorite book of all time, when I was little - not Alice, but specifically "The Annotated Alice"!) 

"In Carroll's day there was considerable popular speculation about what would happen if one fell through a hole that went straight through the center of the earth...  Carroll's interest in the matter is indicated by the fact that in Chapter 7 of his Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, there is described (in addition to a Moebius strip, a projective plane, and other whimsical scientific and mathematical devices) a remarkable method of running trains with gravity as the sole power source. The track runs through a perfectly straight tunnel from one town to another. Since the middle of the tunnel is necessarily nearer the earth's center than its ends, the train runs downhill to the center, acquiring enough momentum to carry it up the other half of the tunnel. Curiously, such a train would make the trip (ignoring air resistance and friction of the wheels) in exactly the same time that it would take an object to fall through the center of the earth — a little more than forty-two minutes. This time is constant regardless of the tunnel's length."

Comments

[sylver-one.livejournal.com]

*laughs* you are brilliant :D

[derien.livejournal.com]

*grins* I'm shamelessly and ridiculously pleased with myself for this one flash in the pan.;)

[mizzmarvel.livejournal.com]

Ah, you're awesome.

[derien.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :) I'm fairly pleased and want to show it to all my co-workers. ;) Hmmmm, I do have to edit one thing - horrible of me to leave out ElvenGirl who needs to be Training Coordinator. (She's an excellent trainer, and does most of the training, here, but still gets paid the same as any other screener.)

okay . . .

[jimdes.livejournal.com]

For a moment I thought Prtland actually was getting a new train schedule . . . then I remembered the whole 42 minute thing. I wouldn't associate today's date with any of that just the same. I'm just a little out of touch with eccentricity these days.

Re: okay . . .

[derien.livejournal.com]

Heh, eccentricity is absolutely essential to me retaining any modicum of sanity. :)

CO-Workers

[(Anonymous)]

I so enjoyed the creative and almost TRUE life of our job!!! Thank you, Derien
Bye for now jaylow41

[zeralot.livejournal.com]

laughs, ok that was good for some alternative reading, where does your inspiration come from? On another note, tis good to see you are doing well